Mumsnet Talk

My mum and dad are going on their first cruise in a few weeks time, to the Caribbean, and my mum is panicing because she read in some bumph the company sent that it is recommended that you tip the steward £20 per day.

Now, its not a posh cruise, they are in standard accomodation - not 'with own private butler' or anythign like that! This figure seems outrageous - or are we skinflints??

Any advice?

aw, go on someone - give me a clue!

erm, I haven't been on a cruise, but a friend of mine has (one of the Disney ones), she mentioned that all in all they probably tipped over the duration around £300.

oh my life!!!!!!!!!!

my dad thinks he's snapped up a bargain - little does he know!
Ta bellavita.

anyone else?? Are my parents up a creek?

please?

bump

£20 per day??? I seriously doubt that this is genuinely the going rate....(I stay in 5 star hotels generally when 'holidaying', and rarely tip quite that generously!)

my parents have done loads of cruises, and that seems to be about the going rate - it gets divided out amongst all the staff though. It does depend on how "luxurious" the cruise is - something like Ocean Village which is at the (comparatively) cheap 'n' cheerful end woud be less.

oh thankyou.

i will let them know - and tell them to save up. i think this will be their first and last cruise!

It's a few years since we went on our only cruise and I can't remember what we gave as a tip, but we did follow the advice from the company. I think most people do, so it does become the 'going rate', so to speak.

It's a tricky one. As it's a tip, it's not part of the contractual price and I don't see how they could make anyone pay it. On the other hand, it goes to the staff who do work incredibly hard at giving guests a wonderful holiday and probably are not paid well without the tips.

something my parents discovered on their first cruise (but too late to be able to do anything about) is that you can sometimes get incredible bargains for staying on for the next scheduled cruise, if they aren't full - mum and dad were offered an extra two weeks at half price, but weren't able to take it up. Look on the companies website and see where that particular boat is going next..

Best thing to do is find out who they are cruising with and check out the forums in http://www.cruisecritic.com They even have online tip calculators on here! It's standard practice to tip everyone including wine waiter, maitre'd, stewards etc but it is optional. We went Royal Carribean last year and used the cruise calculator to work out what was expected then used the onboard 'envelope' system to pre-pay the tips by credit card. I was when I found out about the tips but boy do they earn their money and I was happy to pay in the end.

$10 per person per day is pretty average. The service you get on a cruise ship is excellent (and cannot be compared to 5 star land hotels), you have free 24-hour room service, 24 hour buffet, entertainment included etc.
One member of staff to every 2 passengers onboard to cater for your every whim. Would be pretty stingy not to tip

We were on a Carribean cruise 20 years ago and I think we gave our steward over $100 for seven days/2 guests. ISTR the cruise company telling us what the expectation was.

have done a few with P&O

i think the suggsted rate is about £2.50ish per person per day for the cabin steward and £2 per person per day for your waitor.

something like that anyway.....

so for 2 people it does equate to just under £10 / day

bear in mind these people work rediculouse hours (6am - midnight ish) hardly any breaks and no paid holiday working 7 days a week for less than 60p per hour

We always pay our tips upfront when we book the cruise. You get vouchers which you give to your steward etc in an envelope at the end of the cruise.

Make sure your mum and dad have not already paid their tips.

The cruises that I have been on which are mainly Princess Cruises you have all your tips added into the cost of the cruise. It is then up to you if you decide to tip anyone anything extra at the end. Check your booking or tell us who it is with and we can check for you.

We have just booked for a week on Royal Caribbean and paid in advance. It wasn't bad £34.80 (I think) each. Ha Has - just realised they have probably come back from the cruise now. Hope they enjoyed it and no doubt they have got the cruise bug.